


Naga's Misfits

by Amodii



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Autism, Chrom Being an Idiot, F/F, Medieval Toothbrushing, One of the MC's is autistic, Self-Insert, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Trans Female Character, modern knowledge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27157634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amodii/pseuds/Amodii
Summary: Thrown from Earth into the world of Fire Emblem Awakening, Eli expects nothing less than a stereotypical isekai experience in one of her favourite childhood worlds.The reality couldn’t be further from that if it tried. She can’t read the language, the toothpaste isn’t minty, and it turns out she’s still as jealous as always. No amount of headache meds are gonna get her through this one unscathed.
Kudos: 10





	Naga's Misfits

Opening her eyes, Eli was surprised that, at least, her headache wasn't as all consuming as she'd expected it to be. Seven shots of popov in and a painkiller IV was usually a brew for an end of the world scenario in the morning, but this was, at best, a minor extinction event.

Letting out a gloriously long yawn, the girl stretched her fingers into the grass under her, and-

Wait, grass?

Bolting up, Eli threw aside her headache with reckless haste, gathering up information of her surroundings to replace it. The trees that surrounded her were... well they were trees, and the grass under her was grass. and. and. 

Unable to gather any useful information about her surroundings, Eli reached for her left pocket, where she always kept her phone, finding, to her dismay, no phone. Also, no pockets? Glancing down, her train of thought was, again, pulled in an unexpected direction as Eli, for the first time in her life, couldn't see past her chest.

"Alrighty, what the fuck was in my drink last night?" She murmured to herself, voice catching up to her just a moment later, pitched higher than usual and more dulcet than gravely. Right. Okay. Right. This dream was fucking awesome.

Standing, Eli quickly checked over the rest of herself. She wore a robe, white and blue and gold, over a plain white shirt and tan pants, fitted skin tight. To her side hung a small leather bag, and, opening it up, she found within a few books and an odd looking azure stone, chiseled into a perfect tetrahedron. Unsure exactly what it was, Eli tucked the stone back into its home, fastening the bag closed and righting herself.

Taking a deep breath, she once again took in her surroundings, this time glancing past the immediately obvious trees and out towards the horizon, trying to glean more about the context of where she was. For her efforts, she spotted out a village, large enough in her field of view to be within walking distance, but small enough that Eli could spot the ends of the pillars of smoke rising from the town as they faded into the rest of the sky.

So, logically, she started towards the town, like the dumbass YA protagonist she was, apparently, destined to be. Her footsteps were unsure at first, lighter than she was used to, and the balance of her body felt a bit too far forward, but, after a few more bounds, she found her rhythm. Soon, the edge of the forest encroached on Eli, and, as a field opened up in front of her, the wriggling bit of her brain, synaptically specialized in the memorization of canon Fire Emblem knowledge and just a neurons fire away from the horrid void of intelligence that was the Fire Emblem fanfic storage bank, started violently screaming. 

Eli considered, for a moment, quashing that part of her mind like the temperamental child it was, but, after that moment of consideration passed, decided to instead give into it's impulses completely and utterly. Turning to what she was now sure was the burning Southtown, Eli made her way to find Chrom and the gang.

Crossing the gap between her and the nearest building took only a scant few minutes, over which time the roar of fire and steel became ever clearer. By the time she'd reached the town's border, a thick stench of iron and smoke had joined the sounds, painting Eli's mind in vivid confusion. Dreams didn't usually smell, at least not for her. 

Raising a shaking hand, the young girl knew what she had to do, and, with much contention but not much ceremony, Eli slapped herself across the face. Pain blossomed from the point of impact, leaving her more stunned from its existence than its impact. She stood there, listless, for a minute or so after that, the reality of her situation hitting her literally upside the head. 

As her brain slowly rebooted, Eli started to think through a plan. Not that she really needed to think too hard, she'd played this exact scenario, or ones like enough to it, through her head a million billion times before falling asleep. The obvious first step was find Chrom, the second was established if Robin existed, the third-

Eli's train of thought was rudely interrupted as an arrow tore itself into her right shoulder, and, while it took her a second to register the pain consciously, her screams beat her there by a good margin. As her new vocal chords shredded themselves apart, her legs gave out, vision blurring violently as her head slammed into the brick street below her. 

"FUCK," Eli wailed as she tried to regain some amount of dominion over her body. The suddenness of it all made itself more clear as, without mercy, another arrow buried itself in her stomach. She squeezed close her eyes as her world became fire and nothing else. Through the haze surrounding her mind, Eli could hear nothing, could smell nothing, could see nothing. Only feel.

Consciousness was at least brief.

\--------------

This time, opening her eyes wasn't a slow process. As Eli regained consciousness, she marveled at the very fact that she was even still alive. Moving, of course, brought her out of her awe, a jolt of horrible electricity traveling from her shoulder to her brain as it reminded her of the foreign metal and wood currently embedded there. 

"Agh," Eli grunted through clenched teeth, doing her best not to move her arm again as the waves of pain slowly diminished to a deep, aching throb. Focusing back on the world around her, she appeared to be inside somewhere, that much was obvious. The walls held shelves, packed full of bottles, each filled with various plants and powders. Some were stacked with books, which, try as she might, Eli couldn't parse out the titles to, although the letters were most certainly germanic in origin, they differed in arrangement and form ever so slightly. 

As she puzzled at the books, footsteps echoed into the small room from the hallway outside, sweeping into the room along with their owner. Eli kept in an excited grasp as the high princess of Ylisse, hero of broken hearts, and mother of the hero of Nohr, Lissa uh. Uh.

Abandoning that train of thought as to not spiral into insanity, Eli reigned in her fangirling as well as she could and made pointed eye contact with the princess

"Oh, you're finally awake," the princess stated plainly. Then, after a seemingly prepared moment of pause, "You do know that there are better places to take a nap than on the ground, right?"

Eli, struck with the fatigue and oddity of the entirety of her situation, took a moment to consider the horrible mesh of accidental references, and, deciding Lissa probably wouldn't mind, burst into horribly ugly laughter.

"BWAHAHAHAHA-FUCK" Eli exclaimed, once agian becoming acquainted with the arrow embeded in her. Lissa, for her part, raised an eyebrow, face tinged with compassion for the pain and confusion at the laughter.

"It wasn't that funny..." Lissa murmured, venturing over to the corner of the room and retrieving a staff from it's position leaning there against the wall and then rounding off her journey at the right edge of Eli's bed. 

"Ah, sorry, just reminded me of Skyr-" Eli cut herself off, locking eyes with Lissa before quickly flustering, "u-uhm! You reminded me of my old friend, Skye, she used to make jokes about... uh... napping on the ground."

"You are... quite an odd duckling, aren't you?" Lissa drolled. This close, Eli could see that the circles under her eyes were deeply set, and her voice hoarse, probably from screaming in the earlier battle, if the logic followed. 

"I," Eli began, but Lissa shook her head.

"It was just a joke, silly duckling. Now, how are you with pain?"

"Wha-" Eli began. She was rudely interrupted, once again, by an arrow interacting with her body. This time, however, it was being torn out, serrated edges digging into the surrounding muscles and tearing them outwards as well. The pain this time was much, much worse than the first interaction.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU," Eli yelled, her voice blood-curdling loud, as if emanating from the collision of a train with a stationary car. Blood sprayed absolutely all over Lissa's dress and face, and, despite the new addition to her wardrobe, the cleric remained stoic, gently laying the arrow to the side and pulling up the staff with both hands. There was a brief flash, and, after a moment, Eli's brain autocorrected, all the pain snapping itself away in an instant. 

"UUUUuck?" Eli questioned, her screams tapering off to quiet questioning as Lissa lowered her staff, pulling out a cloth from somewhere in the bag she carried and wiping off her face. "Wow, that was. Huh. Thanks."

"You're very welcome," Lissa answered, voice carrying just the smallest bit of amusement, "you screamed quite a bit there, first time?

"W-" Eli responded, flushing in utter confusion, and this time it was Lissa's turn to burst out laughing.

Lissa slotted the staff back into its spot in the corner before turning back to face Eli.

"You really like the word what, don't you?" Lissa questioned, hands on her hips to give off as much sass as possible. Eli rolled her eyes, remembering for a second the mindset of the average teenage girl before deciding to just plow through the smugness with deadpan surety. 

"Why did you just rip that arrow out of me with absolutely no warning? Also who are you? And, for that matter, where are we?" Eli asked, dispensing a small barrage of questions in order to keep Lissa occupied while she recovered and normalized to the situation. Lissa, for her part, took a second to parse through the pile of words, obviously fighting exhaustion, before answering.

"Well, giving you warning wouldn't have helped, in fact, the anxiety would have made things worse-"

"I disagree-"

"You're wrong," Lissa retorted, not missing a beat. "Moving on, we're currently in a small medicinal alchemy store on the east side of town, you know, the only building of its kind in the whole village."

Ignoring implications, Eli waited a few moments before prodding: "And you are...?"

"Oh, right, silly me," Lissa said, tone flippant to an incredibly fake degree, "how could I forget. I am Lissa Alriss, princess of the halidom of Ylisse and third heir to the throne of Ylisstol. Pleased to meet you."

The room fell dead silent, and after a second Lissa's face was smeared with a frown. 

"Hello? Did you hear me?" She exclaimed, waving her hands wildly around in front of her, "did the pain finally get to you? Decided to die on me now, right at this moment?"

"No," Eli answered plainly, realizing that, all considered, Lissa's announcement almost certainly warranted a bigger reaction. Wracking her mind for plausible explanations, she threw them out one by one. Unimpressed because from Plegia? Too untrustworthy. Unimpressed because from Valm? Untrustworthy and also she got too terribly seasick. Outrealms? No, that wouldn't...

Her mouth moved on its own then, bypassing thought and muttering "I'm sorry, what is Ylisse exactly?"

Lissa, for a moment, was struck still, rapidly waving hands freezing as her jaw fell open just a bit. Then, she blinked, once, then twice, before finally lowering her hands to her sides and relaxing somewhat.

"Robin, and now you. Two amnesiacs in one day." Lissa said, directed more at herself in a rhetorical sense than at Eli in any real sense. "Frederick is gonna have a fuckin conniption..."

"Ah, yes, I think I've heard of amnesia, and uh," Eli did her best to look thoughtful, as if introspecting on a mind that wasn't the mental equivalent of a town being ravaged by a tornado made of fire. "I can't seem to recall much.... of anything, really."

"Right..." Lissa responded, disbelief evident in her tone, "well, can you at least remember your name?"

"Eli," the girl said without hesitation, "that much I can remember."

Lissa let out a relieved sigh, shaking her head just a bit. "That's good, the last one didn't even get that far."

"Er, right..." Eli's voice petered out...

"I'm going to go get my brother, maybe that'll spark your memory like it did with Robin," Lissa said curtly, not waiting but a second before running off to get Chrom.

Oh gods, oh gods. Eli gathered herself as the realization of meeting Chrom Fire Emblem materialized in her head. Ah, so many things so fast. 

Before her head could run off on an unending tangent, Eli decided sitting up was a good idea. Moving didn't hurt this time, either, and as she sat up, she spotted the bag she'd... spawned with, for lack of a better term, sitting across the room from her, propped up on a small table. Making the short journey over to it, she slipped it open, grabbing one of the books and pulling it out. 

The cover, as she'd expected, was unreadable to her, just like the rest of the books up on the shelves, and, opening it up, she saw that the inside was painted in unreadable gibberish as well. Although, the characters used here weren't germanic at all, instead looking more like a geometric mesh than anything else. A tome, she realized. She was probably holding a tome. 

The realization wasn't a very useful one, but it cleared up at least that off the list of confusing things that she had sort out. Putting it back in the pouch, she instead pulled out the odd stone, turning it over and over in her hands. It was polished and smoothed out to a ludicrous degree, and on one side it bore a mark... a mark that Eli was familiar with, but she couldn't recall from where...

"...you should've seen her face! It was priceless." Lissa's voice faded into hearing as a pair of footsteps approached. Unhurried, Eli simply took a few steps back and plopped into the bed she'd left warm, deciding to sit rather than lay. Just a few moments later, Lissa re-entered, followed by her brother, the prince. He looked slightly disappointed, but still held a smile on his face. 

"Well then, that was quick," Eli said, poignantly interrupting whatever mocking Lissa was going on about. The prince and princess both snapped their eyes to Eli, who'd taken to, once again, fiddling with the stone, mostly to distract herself from the nervousness that this whole situation was creating. 

"You didn't tell me she was a Manakete," Chrom started, bluntly. Of course, no amount of stone turning could've saved Eli from the surprise which filled her every fibre at that announcement, but she did her best to cover her squeak with a fit of fake coughing.

"What, did you forget that too!?" Lissa exclaimed, this time very disbelieving. Chrom, for his part, let out a 'huh?' at Lissa's accusation.

"Y-yea????" Eli answered, suddenly much more aware of what she was holding. One hand left the dragonstone in her lap, jumping up to feel at one of her ears. Pointed, just like they would be. Ohhhhhhh gods oh gods oh gods OH gods what the fuuuuuuuuuck.

"Amnesia is a strong force, it seems," Chrom commented, stoic, one hand reaching up to his chin in thought. 

Lissa facepalmed, a heavy sigh broadcasting a crystal clear message: "I am surrounded by idiots." Eli had gone back to looking at the dragonstone, but this time with much, much more intent, trying to focus on and draw or force in some sort of magical... feeling? She wasn't quite sure what she was trying to do, but, in the moment, that really didn't matter. She just wanted to find the connection that she knew was there.

"Well, no matter, what do you remember, kind stranger?" Chrom asked after a second, moving on completely and utterly too fast for Eli's brain to process. She looked up at him, face embodiment of "eh?" and tried to gather her thoughts enough to speak. 

"I, uh. I remember my name, and..." Eli tapered off then, for once not playing it for effect, trying to think about what exactly she could say and not fuck everything up. "...honestly not much else? I. I can't even seem to remember how this thing works, or how to read the tomes in my bag over there... I feel completely and utterly lost."

Chrom and Lissa both stood there, completely dumbstruck for a short while. Lissa, for her part, actually seemed to be showing some sympathy at those words, taking a mental step back from the sarcasm and distrust of earlier. Chrom just looked like.... well he looked like Chrom. There really wasn't much more to it. Eli shifted uncomfortably as the silence dragged itself onwards. Having laid the dragonstone on the bed next to her, she dug her hands into the sheets, twisting them as a sort of physical distractor from her anxiety.

"That's... certainly more severe than the other case," Lissa muttered, finally breaking the silence. Chrom nodded sagely in response, eyes blankly staring ahead. 

"I, uhm... thanks?" Eli replied, incredibly unsure as to how she was to respond, deciding maybe a bit of a joke was in order.

"Pfff," Lissa scoffed, shaking her head, "yea, you're welcome. Great job forgetting multiple basic principles of life there. I'm surprised you've managed to remember how to speak, truly a feat given the rest of your... symptoms."

"Well, we certainly can't leave you here, then," Chrom spoke up finally, taking an absolutely herculean jump in logic and conversation pace. Lissa turned to her brother, incredulous.

"And why exactly is that???????" The princess blurted, voice raising a few octaves near the end. Chrom let out a shocked "Bwu-" and recoiled, jumping back as if a cat from a bath. Eli was less verbal in her surprise, but nonetheless shocked at the prince's bluntness. 

"We can't just leave her here! For one, she's a Manakete," Chrom began to explain, waving his hands in Eli's general direction, "and, also, the poor girl can't even remember how to read, for Naga's sake."

"The poor girl is right here," Eli chimed in, and the royal siblings turned to face her again, "and... I would, personally, also feel safer tagging along, if you don't mind. I'm really ot sure what I'd do here, in this town, and you both seem rather knowledgeable about... whatever this place is."

"Well then, it's decided," Chrom concluded, "we'll be leaving shortly, so, when you're ready, gather your things and meet us in the town square."

"W-wait? What, no, this can't. We can't just!" Lissa sputtered, but as she spoke, Chrom simply turned and exited the room, bringing her in tow. And so, Eli was once again alone. 

That went... surprisingly smoothly, Eli realized. Especially considering how nervous and suspicious Lissa had been. Gods, her and Frederick were going to be quite the handful, especially if they both stayed suspicious. Maybe Frederick would just stay focused on Robin, or...

Snapping herself out of what was essentially theorycrafting, Eli reminded herself that this was, in fact, not a game or a dream, but instead this was her real life now. No time for dilly-dallying in thought, no, now was the time for action! That in mind, she plopped down off the bed, gathered up her things, and, taking a deep breath, made her way through the building and out the front door.

Now, how the fuck was she supposed to find town square.

\--------------

Finding the town square was easy enough, and, after some quick introductions, the party set off. 

Frederick had been... less that welcoming, but, then again, Eli had expected nothing less from the brown-haired giant. He did seem to be more focused on being suspicious of Robin, though, which was a blessing. After the initial scrutiny about amnesia, he'd laid off the constant harassment, instead turning his ire back to the grey-haired tactician and settling it there. 

Robin, besides doing her best to fend off Frederick, had spent most of her time talking to Chrom, which. Was expected. Definitely not a problem. No jealousy there. Nooooope. Nuh uh. 

Rubbing her hands into her temples for what seemed like the 20th time today, Eli tried to shut her brain up as it was filled to the brim with inane, envious thoughts. It was only the third day of traveling, and yet, even despite that, it'd felt like an eternity to Eli, stuck in a tumultuous cycle of trying to keep her amnesia believable and trying not to be too obvious in her head-over-heels fall for Robin, which. Was proving to be difficult. Incredibly so.

The sun was closing in on the horizon when Chrom called for camp. A bit early, Eli noted, but the mountains on the edge of her vision gave a good enough reason for the early stop. As people started unpacking bedrolls and propping up tents, Eli made her way over to Frederick, who'd taken building up what looked to be the beginnings of a fire. 

"You know, if you prop those up into a pyramid, they'll burn better," Eli pointed out as she neared. Frederick glanced up at her, scowling at the comment. 

"I know that, knave," Frederick spat, turning back to his project, "but right now I'm simply gathering up what tinder I can. Proper building of the fire will come after this step."

"Knave? You know, I have a name," Eli said, rolling her eyes. Fair was fair, and she supposed she was the one harassing him, but still. After the knight didn't respond to that, she decided to move on with her original plan for this conversation. "No matter. I had an important question, sir oh-so-important, if you would deign to answer a peasant such as I."

"Well, what is it then?" Frederick answered curtly, not bothering to look up from his fire-starting this time.

"What exactly do you plan to do with Robin and I when we reach the capital?" She asked, rounding the proto-fire and taking a seat on the other side, facing the knight.

"I'm not sure I grasp what you're asking," Frederick replied, tone earnest. He'd taken, now, to stacking the logs up against each other, building the framework for the previously mentioned pyramid. 

"Well, you don't seem too fond of either of us, to say the least," Eli clarified, "so I was wondering if you're going to try to appeal to Chrom to, I don't know, shove us into the deepest, darkest oubliette you can possibly manage and then roll some huge stone over the entrance."

Frederick snickered at that, a rare grin gracing his face at the notion. He carefully arranged the last of his logs, taking care in his artistry, before plopping down onto the ground, looking up to meet Eli's eyes.

"That would be glorious, wouldn't it," he said, obviously daydreaming of the situation described. Then, he snapped back to reality, the grin fading, "unfortunately, the prince wouldn't take too kindly to it, I don't suppose. No, as much as neither of you come even close to trustworthy in my eyes, Chrom believes otherwise, and, because his word is law, much more than mine at least, I have a feeling I'll be doing nothing of the sort."

"Huh," Eli responded, "when you put it like that, I almost feel sorry you won't get that pleasure. Almost."

Frederick didn't grin this time, instead maintaining his scowl as he rustled through his bag for a firestarter. Emerging with a piece of flint and a striking steel, he went about trying to spark his tinder pile as he continued. 

"Very funny. In the end, however, whatever happens to you at the capital will be much your own decision," he said, deadpan. "Chrom will probably ask you to join the Shepherds, as he already has with Robin. If you refuse, then you'll be on your own. Accept, and I suppose I'll be forced to get more used to your presence."

"Ah," Eli acknowledged, voice petering off as she dove into her own thoughts. 

That... would be quite the decision to make, that much was for sure. Joining the Shepherds guaranteed her access to Chrom, but would shut her off from Lucina and the rest of the children, or at least probably would. Agh, there was that, too. Lucina wasn't probable to take too kindly to a stranger among the ranks of the Shepherds, or anywhere near Chrom, for that matter. Even if she revealed to Luci her outside information.... hmm....

"A copper for your thoughts?" Robin asked, sitting down a few feet to Eli's left. The girl snapped out of her reverie, realizing that the fire had been started and Frederick had walked off, leaving her alone, at least until Robin had decided to wander over and join her. 

"Oh, Robin," Eli began, keeping special note of her breathing. Couldn't appear toooo nervous after all, even if her heart had practically jumped out of her chest a few moments prior, "I'm afraid my thoughts aren't that interesting. Just trying to remember something, anything about how I got here."

The tactician nodded, face twisted in a shared pain. 

"I know the feeling. It's... hard to be so clueless about something so inherent," she said, her tone sympathetic and forlorn. The sun had set now, and here, by the fire, Robin's face lit only by its warm light, Eli realized for the first time just how much more beautiful she was. How much more beautiful than any imagination, than any other depiction. Beautiful in the way that only frazzled hair and sweat and imperfect skin could bring about. In a way that only the simple presence of another human being, flesh and blood, could bring about. 

" _Fuck_ ," Eli thought, " _I'm hopeless_ "

Chrom, of course, took that sensitive moment to appear on the opposite side of the fire, carrying what looked to be a wild pig of some sort, dead from an arrow wound. He dumped it onto the ground, and then, as the pair of women looked over to him, smiled triumphantly, striking a silly, heroic pose. Robin giggled. Eli clenched her teeth and fists.

"I hope you ladies like boar, because it's all we could find around here," Chrom said, pulling out a carving knife and skipping pleasantries, tearing into the boar. Eli, after a moment of looking onwards, quickly gathered that Chrom had no fucking clue what he was doing.

"Wait, no no no," Eli said, waving her hands out in front of her, "cutting it that way, you're just going to get garbage cuts of meat."

Chrom looked up, very much confused at the woman's sudden outburst. Eli stood, walking around the fire to meet him and held out a hand.

"Here, give me that knife, I'll do this," she demanded. Some part of her subconscious was yelling at her for some reason, but she couldn't be bothered. Like her old mentor, Carlos, used to say: wasteful butchery was a pointlessly cruel act, both for the animal and for those eating whatever shitty half-chop, half-tenderloin monstrosity it was sure to produce. 

"You... you know how to carve meat?" Chrom asked incredulously. "You didn't remember you were a manakete, you didn't remember how to read magical script, but, somehow, the amnesia didn't get at your knowledge of butchery?"

"...yes," Eli responded, deciding it better to just stick this out than try and backtrack, at this point. "It seems my need to stop wastefulness and incompetence in the kitchen supplanted my remembrance of an entire language."

Chrom, his brain taking a second to process this (think the google chrome loading symbol), didn't respond, nor did he hand her the knife, much to her dismay. 

"As silly as that sounds, I believe her," Robin chimed in from across the fire. "I don't remember much of what happened before a few days ago, but what memories I do have are scattered and disconnected. Even my use of magic was more instinctual than anything else. I didn't really even know I could even use a tome till it was in my hand and my life was on the line."

"That's true..." Chrom concurred, "and I suppose it wouldn't really hurt to have someone with at least some skill at this. The three of use have just kind of gotten used to eating whatever we could manage. Well, Frederick and I did, at least. Lissa just ends up eating whatever sweets shes pocketed since the last town."

Chrom looked nostalgic, eyes floating out into the middle of nowhere as he smiled. Eli, for her part, pushed her hand further into the prince's field of view, expecting it to catch his attention. It did not. Eli let out a massive sigh, finished the reach forward and grabbed the knife by it's blade, careful to grab with her palm towards the blunt back, and pulled it out of the prince's hand. The prince, confused, didn't let go, instead tugging back instinctively, and, soon enough, the two were engaged in a childish sort of instinctual tug-o'-war.

"Chrom," Eli grunted, pulling the blade towards herself, "give. me. the. knife."

"OH, sure," Chrom exclaimed, quickly letting go of the blade, "there you go."

"Thank you," Eli said pointedly. "Now, step back and give me some room, I'm more used to working with beef, so this might take me a second."

Chrom, clueless to Eli's exasperated tone, nodded and took a few steps back from the dead animal. Eli went to work quickly, leaning down and cutting the animal into more acceptable chunks. While she went about this, the rest of the camp settled in around the fire, with Frederick and Chrom both watching as Eli worked, Chrom in curiosity and Frederick in suspicion. Lissa and Robin had taken up talking about... something, Eli couldn't quite tell over the sound of the fire and through the focus she was putting into her butchery. 

After she'd finished, Frederick produced a simple pan, and, after uneventful cooking and an uneventful dinner, the crowd around the fire petered out until it was just Robin and Eli.

"It's getting quite late, we should probably sleep," Eli pointed out after a long stint of no talking. Robin nodded, putting down the tome she'd been fiddling with and yawning slightly. Her eyes blinked closed for a second, seeming to want to stay that way, before opening back up and meeting Eli's. 

"Probably, yes..." she said plainly, not making any sort of move to get up and leave the fire. A second more before "Eli, do you remember anything about where you were before today? Anything at all?" 

"No," Eli answered plainly, "I already talked to Lissa about this, but, besides my own name and apparently some past talent for carvery, I can't seem to pull anything of note out of the fathoms of my memory." 

Robin nodded, returning her gaze to the fire, not saying much more than that. Eli didn't really know what to say, then, or more accurately she had a million things to say but no right to say them. The corner she'd backed herself into wasn't ideal, but, in her mind, faking amnesia was much better than something like telling Chrom and Lissa that she was from another world. She'd always disliked when SI's did that from the start, but then again, personal preference, she supposed. 

Eli tilted her head back, burying herself in the clearness of the sky. The stars here were the same, which surprised her, and as she sketched out constellations in her mind, she easily spotted each one out. The moon, too, was just fading out from a new moon, positioned directly in the center of its nighttime arc around the earth. This time of night always left Eli feeling emboldened.

"Do you?" Eli asked, not bothering to look back down at the tactician. 

"I... no, not really," Robin responded, hesitant but sincere sounding, "before waking up in that field, well, my memories are scattered at best."

Silence again.

"Are you sure?" Eli dared, looking back at the girl and locking eyes as intensely as she could manage. There were some things about the canon she still didn't know, still wasn't aware of, and she decided in this moment that she wasn't quite happy with that. Robin met her gaze, eyes full of confusion, clearly taken aback. 

"I'm quite sure," she retorted, voice full of indignant surety, "are you in league with Frederick now or something?"

Eli's heart broke a little bit at the tactician's aggression, but she understood it all the same. Still, she'd committed now, and Robin's response had done nothing but bring her fears further to life. She knew how amnesiacs were supposed to act, having watched and read more than enough studies on the subject, and Robin's behavior was... far from the norm.

That didn't mean that Eli knew how to process that information. 

"Sorry," Eli responded after a few seconds more, "I guess I just wanted to... check, or something. I'll be going to bed now."

"I think that would be for the best," Robin responded, voice edging on vehemence. 

Eli stood, then, making her way towards the corner of the camp where she'd set up her bedroll. A million thoughts raced through her head, and her heart was absolutely awash in confusion and pain. Ah, what a good way to end the night. 

Sleep healed all woes, right?

\--------------

It didn't, in fact, but time certainly would. 

The next several days of travel were largely uneventful, with the party weaving in and out of valley pathways as they made their way through the mountain range that lay between them and Ylisstol. Chrom had tried to strike up conversation with Eli several times, and, while she'd been somewhat receptive, the weight of her talk with Robin laid heavily on her mind, quashing most opportunities for genuine engagement. Still though, the prince proved stubborn, and, by the 7th day of travel, Eli had started to feel better, and, throughout the day, joined more and more into the banter between the royal siblings.

As night fell, though, the part quieted down. There was a storm on the horizon, and, as they'd exited the mountain passes into the forest which foreshadowed their arrival to the inner basin of Ylisse, something... odd hung in the air. Eli, of course, had a pretty damn good guess at what that meant, especially since she'd been expecting it since the first night of travel, but knowing what was going to happen didn't help ease her nerves, let alone those of the rest of the party.

Camp was made quickly, with Frederick having managed to secure food in the form of... wild bear, which was. An interesting tasting meal, that was for sure. 

Eli, stomach still growling a bit, had settled into her tent early as she'd started doing after her last bad encounter with late night campfire talks. As she wrapped herself up in her bedroll, trying to get comfortable, she swiftly realized that sleep wasn't going to be an option tonight, at least not until the inevitable events which were to transpire. And so, deciding on that, she simply took to working through what her plan for the night would be.

First, and perhaps foremost, she wanted to talk with Lucina, if at all possible. Whether or not that would be an option very much remained to be seen, although she had a sneaking suspicion that Lucina's attention would focus in on her quite a bit, no matter what she did. She was very much a square peg among circular holes, and the overprotective future princess most likely wouldn't like that too much. Hopefully she didn't just try and off her now, really.

But no, she wouldn't do that, even if given the opportunity. Doing so would inevitably slow Chrom's progress to the capital, and, much like herself, Eli knew that Lucina was going to do her best not to disturb the timeline in such a way. Eli thought on this more as the minutes passed, turning to hours, before, finally, voices echoed from outside her tent.

"Lissa, run!" Chrom's yelled, sounding very, very distant. Taking that as her queue, Eli quickly rid herself of her bedroll and crawled out of her tent. 

Outside, the fire had long since died down to simple embers, and neither Chrom nor Lissa were anywhere to be seen, but, as she took another glance around the camp, the ground began to shake. Violently. Struggling to keep her footing, Eli scanned further into the forest, and, while she found nothing obvious at first, that very quickly changed as well. 

A gigantic spurt of lava tore its way into the sky several hundred feet away, and, despite its distance, Eli still felt the air around her warm ever so slightly. By this point, Frederick had torn his way out of his tent and was quickly dawning his armour, all the while trying to keep his horse as calm as he could manage. Robin, too, had made her way to the camp center, sword and tome in hand. 

"Where are the prince and princess?" Frederick demanded as he finished tightening his gauntlets, looking accusingly between Robin and Eli.

"I think I saw them leave camp heading west!" Eli answered, deciding a bit of meta knowledge wouldn't hurt that much. Plus, maybe Frederick would be more apt to trust her if she helped them find their way to the royals faster. The knight, mounting his steed, nodded. 

"Catch up when you can, then," he said, making haste with a westerly bearing. Eli, unsurprised in hindsight, looked to Robin, who simply met her gaze with an indifferent frown before starting off after Frederick. Shrugging, Eli did the same.

Following the knight and the tactician proved somewhat difficult, especially as they neared their destination. The burning forest became a cacophony for the lungs and eyes, but, pushing through the pained breathing, Eli eventually stumbled into the clearing, where fighting was already afoot. 

Chrom was engaged with two axe-wielding risen, while Frederick, Lissa tucked behind him on his horse, was charging at a group of risen archers, shield raised and head down. Robin still stood near the edge of the battle, eyes closed as she focused magic through her tome. Several seconds later, part of the group Frederick was charging at was vaporized by a flash of lightning. 

Eli, altogether, felt useless. She considered taking out her dragonstone and trying to focus on it again, but, realizing that it was probably still a hopeless act, set about skirting the edges of the battlefield, instead, on the lookout for "Marth." To that end, she ducked ever so slightly back into the trees, trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible as she scanned the trees and bushes. By the time she'd made almost a full circle around the battleground, Eli finally spotted something out, a pair of figures, mostly concealed branches, clearly observing the goings on of the fight.

Eli, heartbeat racing even faster than it had been from her run here, took a deep breath, holding it for just a second to try and calm herself before her planned approach. Then, making sure to look as non-threatening as possible, she took the final few steps to close distance on the two of them. 

"-'ll be fine, Luci, it's not smart for you to risk your identity this early on, you know that," Severa pointed out, speaking in a measured, reasonable tone. 

"You're right, Severa, and I know that, I just," Lucina replied, gritting her teeth. Eli took another careful step, trying very hard not to squee at realizing just who the two were. Unfortunately, dried leaves didn't much care if you were stepping carefully or not, and, with a crispy crunch!, Lucina and Severa whirled, swords drawn.

"Wait!" Eli yelled, falling backwards away from the two women, "wait please! I'm unarmed!"

There was a tense moment before anyone decided to move or speak again, before, with a heavy sigh, Lucina sheathed her Falchion. Severa stayed stalwart, going so far as to adjust her grip, assumedly for better slicing capabilities. Or stabbing. Eli really wasn't too keen to find out which it was. 

"Severa, at ease," Lucina said, sighing as she took a step towards the now-prone Eli, "look at the girl, does she look like a threat to you?"

Severa begrudgingly followed the princesses orders, putting away her blade, shaking her head all the while. Lucina smiled briefly in thanks before dropping her face back into a neutral stare and turning back to Eli. 

"You should leave, it's not safe for you here," the princess said, monotone. "If you head south of here and keep to the trees you'll eventually come to a river. Follow that river and you'll come to a village. South is that way."

Lucina pointed, unsurprisingly, south, and then, taking a few more steps forward, offered her hand. Eli, hesitantly, took it, and was pulled rather easily to her feet, taking a few steps back from the future princess. Lucina looked on expectantly then, but Eli didn't budge.

"Lucina...I've actually come here specifically to find you," Eli said, voice full of nervous energy. Lucina, immediately, jumped back, incredibly confused, and Severa redrew her sword, this time looking very intent to keep it that way.

"How..." Lucina asked, to no one in particular, trailing off. Severa took it upon herself to emphasize the princesses point.

"How the hell do you know that name!" She barked, as if spitting acid. Eli cringed back a bit before steeling herself, deciding that hesitation might just get her killed, and trudging on through this already mess of a conversation.

"Naga sent me, just like she did for you. I'm here to stop the events of your past from becoming a reality," Eli half-lied, trying to sound as reasonable as she could. 

"Yea right," Severa retorted, not giving the statement any time in the air before striking it down. "And how exactly do you expect us to believe that?"

"Well, I," Eli began, then, quickly realizing she had absolutely no reason at all for them to believe her, improvised, reaching into her bag and pulling out the dragonstone. Severa didn't take well to the sudden movement, tensing visibly, but didn't lunge for the poor girl just yet. 

She presented the stone with both hands, holding it out as if it were some sort of tape over the holes in her argument, announcing simply, "well, I'm a Manakete, descendant of the divine dragon herself, isn't that proof enough?"

"...no," Lucina answered, having held out a hand to reign in her red-headed partner in crime. "No it is not."

"Well, uh," Eli sputtered. Honestly, she was stumped, and cursed impulsive nature for backing her so quickly into the corner she was now stuck in. "huh. Okay, well, I...uh..."

The two looked on, utterly unimpressed, as the girl stumbled around to form a sentence. Severa, for her part, had relaxed as she decided that, even given the circumstances, the girl in front of her could never present any kind of relevant threat to her and the princess. Lucina simply looked disappointed and confused, not sure whether to pity or ridicule was appropriate in the moment. 

"Look," Lucina eventually spoke, cutting off Eli's rambling, "I don't know who you really are or how you know my name, but I do know that I cannot allow that knowledge to seep from this conversation and into the ears of any besides a trusted few. So, I'll give you one last chance: who are you and how do you know that name?"

Eli finally shut up, then, diving deep into thought in an attempt to save herself from this dire situation. For fucks sake, at this point she'd need nothing less than a miracle. 

And so a miracle she would have, decided the world.

In that moment, the dragonstone that Eli held began to glow, letting off an incredibly burst of blue and white light. Severa and Lucina both looked away as this happened, forced to cover their eyes as to avoid temporary blindness. Eli simply closed hers, caught unawares in the thralls of her own thought. She felt... incredibly odd for a moment, and, almost out of instinct, curled herself up quickly around the stone. Then, there came a series of snapping sensations as she felt her body reformed into something much, much larger. It wasn't pleasant, but at the same time, it was over swiftly enough, and, as Eli reopened her eyes, she was suddenly looking down on the two, both now with their swords drawn.

Eli immediately remembered, in some ironic little useless fact moment, that the Falchion did triple damage to dragons, a category which she currently fell under. Fun. 

Even so, the princess and her companion hesitated, not striking out immediately, which greatly confused Eli as she tried to take a few steps back away from them. She discovered quickly, however, that moving a body you're not used to isn't quite that easy, tripping over her hind legs and quickly becoming a ball of Manakete rolled up on the forest floor. 

" _No more no more no more,_ " Eli thought, desperately trying to try and find the mental off button for this whole dragon thing, panicking more and more with every second that passed by. Mercifully, after less than a minute of this utterly pathetic mental begging, there was another flash of light and she reverted to her humanoid form, breathing rapid and shallow.

Lucina, approaching the hyperventilating girl, hesitantly kneeled down, reaching out an arm and gently laying it on her shoulder, attempting to impart at least... some sort of comfort.

"Well why didn't she do that in the first place," muttered Severa as she approached from behind Lucina, sword put away and shaking her head. "Would've been a lot less of a hassle."

"Severa?" Lucina piped up, not turning to face the red-head.

"Yea?" She answered nonchalantly.

"Please shut up," the princess said, words clear and cold. 

"Right, of course, your highness," Severa replied, coming to a stop a few feet away, crossing her arms and waiting expectantly as she stopped talking.

Lucina then turned her attention to Eli, who, for her part, hadn't really stopped the whole hyperventilation thing. Her face had become incredibly flushed, and, now, her eyes were completely bloodshot. The Manakete was vaguely aware that continuing this way would just land her in the land of unconsciousness, but, then again, it wasn't as if she was trying to do this. 

"Hey, you have to calm down," Lucina started, rather unhelpfully, "please, you've got nothing to worry about anymore, it's okay." 

Eli couldn't respond between breaths, and, even if she could've, such a statement didn't really warrant a response. Instead, she took several seconds to focus on what she could feel, mentally listing them with as much detail as she could, before moving on to what she could see, and then hear, and then smell, and then taste. She did this a few more times, and, no thanks to Lucina's attempts at comforting her, managed to slow her breathing down to normal. 

"You, you know," Eli said as she calmed down, interrupting something useless Lucina was in the middle of mumbling, "when someone. When someone is panicking like that. You shouldn't tell them to fucking. Calm down. It's just a pointless waste of air."

Lucina, both relieved at the girl's recovery and taken aback at her boldness, didn't really know what to say. Severa, however, couldn't help but make a quip from behind the princess. 

"Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine," the girl said, almost certainly rolling her eyes.

"You're. you're one to talk, Severa," Eli responded absentmindedly, which, ultimately, just got a glare, but, thankfully, didn't earn more questioning about knowing names.

"Shush, both of you," Lucina said, finally snapping back into the moment at hand. "My apparently lackluster comforting skills aside, that little outburst brings a few more questions to mind, Manakete."

"Shoot," Eli answered, pulling herself into a sitting position.

"Well, for starters, Severa did have quite a bit of a point, despite the snark," the princess began, standing, "why wait until we were so untrusting to transform and display the mark of Naga? Doing so earlier would've saved all involved a lot of trouble and stress, most of all you, given how you reacted to our questioning."

Eli processed those words for a minute, and, incapable of coming up with any good reason for her to have done that, decided deadpan truth would be the best route in this case.

"I didn't know how to use my dragonstone," the girl put plainly. 

"Wh. You what?" Lucina asked, suddenly very confused. "Is its use not natural to you? Lady Nowi always told us that a Manakete's dragonstone was a part of them, not something to be used but rather felt."

"Would you believe me if I told you, that, before about a week ago, I wasn't a Manakete?" Eli countered back, sure that the statement would do nothing but cause more confusion.

"You've got to be shitting me," Severa muttered, mouth completely ajar. She turned to Lucina then, "Luci, even if this girl really is an envoy of Naga, she's completely lost her mind. Probably not worth dragging around, if you ask me."

"I know, I know. I sound absolutely insane," Eli confirmed, trying to normalize her voice as much as she could, still reeling a bit from the panic attack. "But I'm telling the absolute truth. Until a week ago, I was just a nobody from Valentia, then, I went to sleep. And then I woke up, graced in the light of Naga, and she told me everything of your struggle. Told me I would need to help you. And then I woke up near Southtown and ran into Chrom."

"...I have a very hard time believing that," Lucina said, not mincing words, "but given that you do bear the mark of Naga, I will at least spare you the fate of a spy. For now, just stay with Chrom and his party, anything else would arouse too much suspicion. Prove yourself there, and, given time, we shall talk again."

Eli, not wanting to fight this point any longer, nodded. Standing then, gathered her dropped dragonstone and stowed it once again in her bag. She nodded wordlessly to the future princess, who nodded back, stepping aside to allow the girl to pass by her and re-enter the clearing, where Chrom could be seen bearing down on the risen chieftain. 

"I promise you, I won't disappoint," Eli replied then, smirking. Severa rolled her eyes and Lucina chuckled a bit. 

"I should hope not."

\--------------

The city had just crested the horizon. 

The journey had been especially empty of conversation in wake of the event two nights ago. One might be wont to think that the opposite would be true, Eli certainly thought that, but Chrom had become very, very quiet, and Frederick had started scouting ahead and around the party as they traveled. Robin still wasn't talking to Eli, either, which left her with just Lissa, who, despite warming slightly, still seemed to be suspicious of her.

So, needless to say, it hadn't been the greatest of days. 

After a few more moments of slogging travel, Frederick faded more into clear view, flanked by what Eli thought was the shape of another horse. Chrom straightened up a bit at the sight, apparently becoming aware of it at just about the same time as Eli had.

"What the..." he muttered, and, sure enough, as Frederick neared the party, the once-unclear shape formed into that of a man, unarmored, but wearing a rather ostentatious tunic. He rode a brown horse, looking of common breed, but carried himself with a confident air. 

"Chrom," Frederick barked as the horses came to an abrupt stop, "I think you ought to listen to what this merchant has to say."

"Well then, go ahead," Chrom said after a moment, directing a nod at the mounted merchant. He nodded back before starting. 

"Sir prince, I come to you bearing urgent yet uneasy news from the capital. It's merit is questionable, but if it is to be believed, the implications could bring about events most dire," he began, tone perfect for a stereotypical medieval merchant. He paused then, for dramatic effect. 

"Out with it," Frederick spat, glaring at the man, and the merchant gulped, nodding rapidly in acknowledgement. 

"Right, well. To be frank: The Exalt is said to have been possessed by a foreign witch," he finished plainly.

The reaction was immediate, as a tangible wave of incredulous shock struck the party. Chrom let out a worried hiss, Lissa a gasp, Eli a "the fuck", and Robin a confused "huh?" 

Chrom's hand had rested itself on the hilt of the Falchion, and, in the few seconds of silence left in the aftermath of the announcement, Eli could see his hand tighten around it. Other than that small detail, Eli really couldn't be bothered to perceive much more, instead focusing all her mental energy inwards, trying to figure out what the hell this could possibly mean. 

Aversa? No, it couldn't be here, not so early, and certainly not so far into heartland Ylisse. Besides, she'd've been murdered on the spot. Then... Excellus? No, much too early for that as well. Ack. Tharj- no, she didn't care for anyone but Robin. 

"You," Chrom said after a moment, voice suddenly smooth and cold enough that it sent a shiver down Eli's spine. "You will come with us to the palace, and, if you are lying, you will regret it."

"W-wait!" The merchant squeaked, "I-I told you! This isn't known fact, it's just something being passed around the taverns, but enough that I'd believe it! I'm not trying to stake my life on it!"

The prince took a few steps forward towards his horse, wasting no time in grabbing the mans leg and yanking him out of his saddle, throwing him to the ground. This elicited more squeaking, as well as some pained grunts upon impact with the ground. Chrom drew the divine fang of Naga, putting it to the man's neck. 

"Chrom," Robin suddenly spoke out, surprising even Eli as the tactician stepped forward to put a hand on the prince's tensed shoulder. "This man is simply delivering a message. There is no need for such violence."

The prince didn't respond verbally, but, after a few more moments, pulled his blade back away from the man's neck and sheathed it. The merchant no longer pinned down, scrambled to his feet and several feet backwards.

"Get ye gone," Chrom said, voice still as a frozen lake. The merchant didn't need much more prompting than that, jumping into his saddle with utmost haste and fleeing off the direction the party had come. 

Eli was, all considered, still confused by the whole exchange. Chrom's reaction was... in character, sure, but still, if this rumour proved true, there were so many horrible, odd implications. And the way that Robin had reacted, it tore away a bit at Eli's theory that she was aware of her past. Grima wouldn't have spared a man's life like that, not ever. 

"No more stops, we make break for the castle now and arrive there by sunset," Chrom announced, his voice more normal this time, but still grim. "If my sister is as that man said, I'll not have her suffer it for a minute more than is necessary."

With that, Chrom began his war-march towards the castle.

**Author's Note:**

> N - Well that's not ominous at alllllll.
> 
> H - Chrom's gonna end up ripping her head off, isn't he?
> 
> N - Maia can dodge... probably.
> 
> H - ...Maia? Who's that?
> 
> N - I said nothing.
> 
> H - Right.


End file.
